[1][2][3] Actor Dennis Haysbert who played a Black president on the hit show 24, said the portrayal “may have opened the eyes, the minds and the hearts of people because the character was so well liked.
[8] In 1964 Irving Wallace published The Man, a popular novel addressing the idea of a black president, named Douglass Dilman in the book.
[9] The Man—which was made into a 1972 movie starring James Earl Jones as Dilman—noted factors against a black president being elected in America, and Dilman's coming to power through an unlikely series of circumstances of succession.
In the early years of his career in the 1960s, comedian Bill Cosby frequently told jokes along racial lines, including one about an imaginary first black president.
[17] "When Rod Serling adapted Irving Wallace's "The Man" to the screen in 1972—it was a joint production of Paramount Pictures and ABC Circle Films, originally intended to air on ABC's made-for-television Movie of the Week series, but the network chose not to air it, prompting Paramount to release the film to theaters instead[18]—the political climate had changed sufficiently that he could promote Douglass Dilman from survivor to competitor—a genuine leader who, after standing up to his white rivals, vows to win the presidency through "legitimate" electoral means.
[14][21] Lizzie Borden's 1983 science fiction film Born in Flames about a radical feminist insurgency, set in an alternative United States Socialist Democracy, features a black president.
[22] In the 1993 science-fiction series SeaQuest DSV, the unnamed president of the United States featured in the first season episode "Better Than Martians" is portrayed by African-American actor Steven Williams.
In the 1997 science-fiction film The Fifth Element, character actor Tom Lister, Jr. played President Lindberg, the commander-in-chief of not just the United States of America but the planet Earth.
[23] A generation after The Man, the 1998 science fiction film Deep Impact featured black actor Morgan Freeman as president Tom Beck.
In the hit show 24, a television precedent was set when Dennis Haysbert portrayed a lead character, David Palmer, and successful president who fought terrorism.
Critic Charles Taylor described him as showing "the determination of magnetism, brains, resolve, compassion and willingness to make tough calls we dream of in a president.
"[27] In 2000, Chris Tucker planned on writing, directing, producing and starring in a movie about the first black president of the United States.
[28] Chris Rock wrote, directed, and starred as presidential candidate Mays Gilliam in the 2003 comedy Head of State, described as "undernourished.
"Rock doesn't seem to know much about contemporary America; when his character travels to Memphis (a majority-black city with a black mayor) we see only white people.
Mike Judge's 2006 Idiocracy featured President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho as a former porn star and champion wrestler played by erstwhile NFL defensive end Terry Alan Crews.
"[9] A 2006 BBC Four adaptation of John Wyndham's short story Random Quest depicts the main character being sucked into an alternate reality in which Condoleezza Rice is president of the United States.
She wrote a script based on a book called Making Friends With Black People, a buddy comedy that focuses on the state of race relations in the U.S.[8] She added that, "In our pitch to NBC, we referenced Obama."